U.S. Beer Flows & the Impact of NAFTA

After World War II and up until the 1980’s, the liberalization of trade was realized on a multilateral basis. World trade grew at twice the pace of GDP growth (Krueger, 1999). However, starting in the mid 1980’s, preferential trading arrangements (PTAs) increased in numbers. Perhaps the most influential PTA ever to be signed could be the North America Free Trade Agreement, or simply NAFTA, which came into effect January 1, 1994. The agreement established a free-trade area between its member countries- US, Canada and Mexico- in which all tariffs would be phased out between them, but each country would maintain its separate national barriers against the rest of the world. A lot of attention has been paid to the impact of NAFTA on the welfare of its member countries and on the rest of the world. This paper will focus on the impact of the agreement on the US’s beer trade flows by analyzing annual import and export data using several methods. To our knowledge there is no precedent for such research. Section II provides a brief review of the conclusions and methodology of existing works on NAFTA trade issues, as well as some important aspects of the agreement. Section III provides an overview of the world beer industry, and the NAFTA member countries beer markets. Section IV provides in great detail the methodology that we will employ. The focus of Section V is to explain the results obtained. Section VI provides conclusions and implications for further research on this subject. References and other sources can be found in Section VII.beer trade on US market, NAFTA

Not too small to be strategic: The state of academic program review guidelines and instrumentation in public institutions

In higher educational settings, the academic program review process allows academic units to solicit feedback, make data-driven decisions regarding effectiveness and sustainability, and report to stakeholders. In order to discover trends and best practices in the current state of academic program review in higher education, examined was a sample of 53 processes representing a range of small-to-large public institutions in the United States in the categories of associate-degree granting, bachelors-degree granting, and masters-degree granting. Using a content analysis methodology, outcomes assessment and the use of data results featured prominently with 86.7% of the sample requiring their incorporation in academic program review, followed closely by judgments of resource adequacy and demonstration of program necessity and efficiency

Higher Educations’ Institutional Transparency of General Education Competencies, Assessment Measures, and Analysis of Assessment Data

With general education coursework comprising a significant portion of associate and bachelor degree curriculum, conveying the content and importance of student competencies to stakeholder audiences has never been more important. Accreditation pressure and accountability measures are influencing a focus on improving the presentation of competencies aligned to their assessment measures. This study examines the extent to which institutions publicly and proactively disclose relevant information regarding assessment of the general education curriculum. Examined are websites of 71 higher education institutions, representing a range of public settings in all American regions. Results show variability in the alignment of objective to measure and reveal current themes and emphasis regarding how competencies relate to coursework. Provided are recommendations for improving institutional presentation

Introduction to Medical Coding, Introductory Module

In our increasingly global economy, manufacturers and distributers sending and receiving goods are frustrated by the reality of multiple languages. As an example of corporate coding, proactive management in an automotive company have invented a coding system where each car type has its own identification code with associated words that describe the product. Therefore, they can be confident that anyone referring to ID 4523 is describing a four-door vehicle (4000 level), compact vehicle (500), black color (20) with leather interior (3). This example is analogous to clinical or medical coding

Investigation of Factors Relating to the Web-based Presentation of Policy and Information on Campus Firearm Policy and Smoking Policy

In order to explore themes of privilege in regard to policy availability, language accessibility, and underlying bias, policies related to two topics of interest to higher education campus visitors, campus firearm carry policy and smoking policy, are explored to determine how Web-based information is presented to various audiences. Implications of policy accessibility are compelling; language barriers can adversely affect access to campus events and educational services. Representative samples of policies of five states that allow some form of open or concealed campus firearm carry were studied to determine possible factors of importance. Representative samples of two additional states in the more restrictive continuum of the campus carry issue were also studied as a control. In addition, policies relating to smoking were examined to determine themes related to overall policy presentation approach. Findings indicate that few Websites facilitate the provision of translated policy, and that few options exist for easy translation of policies into other languages at the point of origin. In addition, this study presents evidence that the recentness of legislative activity and desire to mitigate visitor concerns may be considered as factors impacting policy availability

Cognitive-behaviour therapy for psychosis : individual accounts of the therapeutic process in successful and less successful outcomes

Despite a historical pessimism about the possibility of helping people with schizophrenia using psychological therapies, a great deal of progress has been made recently using cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches. These treatments have been developed from changing understandings of schizophrenia, and focus on reducing the distress of psychotic symptoms through coping strategies and altering distressing beliefs. There is increasing evidence that suggests CBT may be helpful for a significant portion of people with psychosis. Limited information on the factors implicated in differing outcomes is available. The present study investigated factors differentiating individuals with good and poor outcomes on the basis of accounts of CBT for psychosis from eight therapist/client dyads. Four therapists and eight of their clients (two associated with each therapist) were interviewed about their experiences of CBT. Topics covered included, effect of the therapy, elements felt to be helpful and the therapeutic relationship. Interview data was analysed using a qualitative, "grounded theory", methodology. The analysis produced a number of major categories which differentiated clients who progressed and did not progress in CBT. These included ability to let go of distressing beliefs, logical thought, holding therapy, and presence of a shared goal. Overall, clients who progressed were better able to understand, hold and engage with ideas put forward by the therapist. Additionally, clients' views of CBT were positive and therapists and clients felt that non-specific benefits accrued from the therapy even when CBT specific progress did not occur. The results were consistent with previous studies suggesting that ability to consider disengaging from distressing beliefs are important in therapeutic progression. However further research is required to clarify the role of logical thought, holding therapy and therapeutic alliance in progress and in predicting outcome. Reasons considered for the inability to progress include, emotional investment in psychotic beliefs and information processing factors

Perspectives of academic web content managers on the effectiveness of web publishing and web hosting policies

The development of policy to handle the increasingly diverse issues that arise from web content management is becoming a concern for academic institutions. An exploratory investigation that seeks institutional web content manager perspectives from higher educational settings on current web publishing and hosting policy and issues is presented as a mixed-method research design, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, to investigate how field factors influence policy creation. A web-based version of a survey instrument was designed, piloted, and implemented for this investigation, and data is presented, and discussed in relation to current field literature. Findings indicate that web hosting and publishing policies increasingly fall under the purview of institutional Communications or Public Relations departments and that policy elements concerning web content do not yet match field recommendations in several key areas

U.S. BEER FLOWS & THE IMPACT OF NAFTA

After World War II and up until the 1980’s, the liberalization of trade was realized on a multilateral basis. World trade grew at twice the pace of GDP growth (Krueger, 1999). However, starting in the mid 1980’s, preferential trading arrangements (PTAs) increased in numbers. Perhaps the most influential PTA ever to be signed could be the North America Free Trade Agreement, or simply NAFTA, which came into effect January 1, 1994. The agreement established a free-trade area between its member countries- US, Canada and Mexico- in which all tariffs would be phased out between them, but each country would maintain its separate national barriers against the rest of the world. A lot of attention has been paid to the impact of NAFTA on the welfare of its member countries and on the rest of the world. This paper will focus on the impact of the agreement on the US’s beer trade flows by analyzing annual import and export data using several methods. To our knowledge there is no precedent for such research. Section II provides a brief review of the conclusions and methodology of existing works on NAFTA trade issues, as well as some important aspects of the agreement. Section III provides an overview of the world beer industry, and the NAFTA member countries beer markets. Section IV provides in great detail the methodology that we will employ. The focus of Section V is to explain the results obtained. Section VI provides conclusions and implications for further research on this subject. References and other sources can be found in Section VII